Munros and Other Walks

We had much better rest at Blackwater campsite, due to the fact that we hired a small caravan for the night, I know hardly slumming it. We knew that there was only 14 miles between us and the end of the West Highland Way. Again, the weather looked like it was going to threaten a major downpour, but this never happened. The day stayed dull but muggy.   A large part of the morning was spent on largely flat track, as you can see above. Bear in mind that the start of this walk, from Kinlochleven was all uphill for the first couple of miles. Where did all the trees go? I knew from previous experience on the West Highland Way that there was a large wooded section that lasts for about 3.5 miles. The last section of the walk, before it heads down to Glen Nevis is a walk through the woods. The path ascends and descends a couple of times and keeping track of where you are during this time can be quite tricky. Things were different this time as a lot of the trees has been f...

For the first 3 days we had been blessed with good weather. The temperature had been in the mid to late 20's(Celsius) so the only things we had to worry about was sun lotion and water. At the start of our 4th day the weather turned, and we woke to a dull wet day. At the start of our journey we were planning to hike to Kinlochleven, which would have been another 20 miles. The relative that I was walking with has suffered badly blistered feet during our last 3 days walking. It was going to be a great enough challenge for him to finish the West Highland Way. For that reason we decided to walk the 10 miles to Glencoe where we could spend the night there at the campsite. A few miles into our walk my right foot started to get worse. By the end of the 10 miles the foot had swollen around the ankle. Now it was more a case of me being the one in danger of not finishing the West Highland Way.

Our second day started brightly enough. We had a quick hike to Rowardennan and then a short walk from there to the start of the loch Lomond stretch. We took the lower path when it split, taking us along the shore of the Loch. The path was narrow but dry and I made good progress along its 3 and a bit mile stretch to Inversnaid. There was a tree that had fallen across the track at one point, the only way was to crawl under it. At another point later we had to take our rucksacks off again to squeeze paat a large boulder.  Our journey slowed down conaiconside after Inversnaid, the track continued to be narrow however the undulating nature of the track and the amount of boulders you had to negotiate meant that we lost a lot of time during the six miles it took to get to Bein Glas. The effort involved drained both of us and we were glad to stop at a campsite with daylight to spare and a pub for a bar meal.  Fallen tree over track before Inversnaid Rowchoish ...

I thought I'd post the equipment that I will be taking on the forthcoming trip. Most of the equipment I have had for a number of years and have served me well. Also, in order to keep the cost down  I have borrowed some items from my wife. Some of the items may not be the lightest, but I'm not paying over the odds to save a few grams, although I am conscience of the weight I'll be carrying. Detailing my equipment will help me to refine this process in the future.  The items are shown below, I've left food out just now as I'll probably make a separate post about this. Gelert Rucksack Rucksack I'm taking my wife's Gelert X-plorer 65l bag which will be more than enough to see me through the hike. The bag weighs in at 1.6kg, a bit on the heavy side but it is comfortable.There is no frame back support, not that I'm used to that, but it'll be interesting to see how I feel about it after a week of use. Hilleberg Akto Tent Tent ...